White Cliff Minerals Ltd (ASX:WCN) has drilled grades of up to 41.3 g/t gold and 5.1% copper in the latest set of results from the Quartz Zone within the 89% owned Aucu gold deposit in Kyrgyz Republic, central Asia.
Results from multiple drill holes remain pending and the company expects to complete another 1,000-1,500 metres of drilling in 2016.
Todd Hibberd, managing director, commented: “The assay results reflect the identification of native gold in both outcrop and in drilling samples.
“The quartz reef appears to host high grade gold mineralisation surrounded by an alteration halo containing substantial copper.”
Latest drill results
Recent drill holes at the Quartz Zone have produced:
- 4 metres at 12.0 g/t gold including 1 metre at 41.3 g/t gold from 49 metres;
- 9 metres at 8.3 g/t gold including 1 metre at 24.0 g/t gold from 98 metres; and
- 34 metres at 1.36% copper including 7 metres at 5.1% copper from 71 metres.
Two holes intersected substantial gold and copper mineralisation both within the quartz reef and in a second parallel quartz reef and alteration halo.
Quartz Zone
The Quartz Zone occurs at the eastern end of the Eastern Gold Zone (EGZ) with high grade gold mineralisation confined to the quartz reef which ranges from 1-3 metres wide over 150 metres.
Visible gold has been panned from the quartz reef in four road cuttings covering 120 metres length.
The company will endeavour to complete as much drilling as possible before autumn snow and rain makes drilling too difficult to continue.
Aucu gold deposit
The 89% owned Aucu gold deposit is located in the Kyrgyz Republic, which is a democratic republic bordering Kazakhstan and western China.
The company announced a maiden inferred resource for the Aucu gold deposit above a cut-off grade of 1 g/t gold of 1.15 million tonnes grading 4.2 g/t gold for 156,000 ounces of contained gold.
In 2015, drilling identified exceptional gold mineralisation east of this resource at the EGZ over a strike length of at least 500 metres.
Results included 8 metres at 55.2 g/t gold and 4 metres at 59.9 g/t gold.
Overall metallurgical recovery of all mineralised zones discovered at Aucu is 99% with gravity recoverable gold averages of 88.6%.
Analysis
The Quartz Zone is proving prospective for White Cliff as quartz outcrops containing native gold occur in every road cutting completed to date.
With drilling continuing and a number of assays still pending, White Cliff remains leveraged to news flow going forward.
Furthermore, the Merolia gold project in Western Australia continues to emerge as a prospective project for White Cliff alongside Aucu.
The company recently discovered its third gold in-soil anomaly at Merolia.
Shares in White Cliff are trading up 65% over the past month.